Lorry's flashing

tinkle

Why do lorries flash when other vehicles over take them?

Just curious!

warwicktiger

To say its ok for the overtaker to pull in, can be difficult to tell when driving a long vehicle that you have cleared the vehicle you are overtaking.

Indout96

To let the overtaking lorry know as soon as it has cleared the overtaken one so that they can move back in.

rodenal

To tell the other vehicle they are clear and can move back in. Usually only do it for the drivers of other long vehicles where it is difficult to tell exactly where the extremes of the vehicle are without a fixed point of reference. I.e it looks like they may be ok in mirrors but cant really be sure

pinkcrafter

Just to let the driver know that they've safely passed the lorry and the can come back over to their own side of the road again.
I always give lorry drivers a quick flash of the indictors as a way of saying thank you, if they flash their lights at me.

dacouch

As the above posters have mentioned, it's to help other long vehicles eg lorrys, vans and caravans etc as it can be hard to judge distance from the side mirrors.

Unlike a car, they don't have the benefit of a rear view mirror.

If you watch when they pull in front, they thank the driver behind with their indicators

tinkle

Thank You all, i am a relatively new driver, cheers.

TrickyWicky

I've noticed over the years a rather odd one with this though..

Lorry drivers will flash each other to let them know its safe to pull in right?

If you're in the left lane in your car (eg doing 50) and a lorry decides to overtake you, they miraculously know when they're clear of you to know when to pull back in again. Always struck me as a bit odd that - you could easily swipe a car off the road with a lorry yet another lorry will offer some resistance so it seems they're willing to chance a family in a car but not each other.

jaydeeuk1

Don't think I've ever been overtaken by a lorry. The reason that they don't side swipe you, if it is a serious question, is because they're generally experienced drivers (usually have to have so many years experienced), and know how to drive a lorry (my licence only up to a certain weight) and know how much of a gap they need to leave after being forced to overtake by someone trundling along in a car at 50 for no reason at all other than be an extra hazard.

Not sure what you mean by a lorry offers resistance, it will take longer to overtake a 50mph lorry than it will a 50mph car?!

Kilty_2

I've been driving a LWB van on the motorway all day.

Some lorry drivers would flash me back in but the vast majority of drivers doing so were other van drivers or car drivers.

pinkteapot

TrickyWicky wrote: »

If you're in the left lane in your car (eg doing 50) and a lorry decides to overtake you, they miraculously know when they're clear of you to know when to pull back in again. Always struck me as a bit odd that - you could easily swipe a car off the road with a lorry yet another lorry will offer some resistance so it seems they're willing to chance a family in a car but not each other.

It's probably because they know that lorries over-taking lorries are annoying to car drivers, particularly on 2-lane dual carriageways. So they flash as soon as it's safe, where normally the over-taking lorry would probably give it a bit longer to make sure they're clear. Gets them back in the inside lane as quickly as possible.